<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<recipeml version="0.5">
  <recipe>
    <head>
      <title>1986 Winner Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies</title>
      <categories>
        <cat>Cookies</cat>
        <cat>Holiday</cat></categories>
      <yield>48</yield></head>
    <ingredients>
      <ing-div>
        <title/>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty>1 1/2</qty>
            <unit>cups</unit></amt>
          <item>Flour</item></ing>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty>1/2</qty>
            <unit>cups</unit></amt>
          <item>Unsweetened cocoa powder</item></ing>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty>1/4</qty>
            <unit>teaspoons</unit></amt>
          <item>Salt</item></ing>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty>1/4</qty>
            <unit>teaspoons</unit></amt>
          <item>Baking powder</item></ing>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty>1/4</qty>
            <unit>teaspoons</unit></amt>
          <item>Baking soda</item></ing>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty>1/2</qty>
            <unit>cups</unit></amt>
          <item>Butter or margarine,</item></ing>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty/>
            <unit/></amt>
          <item>Softened</item></ing>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty>1</qty>
            <unit>cup</unit></amt>
          <item>Sugar</item></ing>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty>1</qty>
            <unit/></amt>
          <item>Egg</item></ing>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty>1 1/2</qty>
            <unit>teaspoons</unit></amt>
          <item>Vanilla</item></ing>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty>48</qty>
            <unit/></amt>
          <item>Maraschino cherries</item></ing></ing-div>
      <ing-div>
        <title>FROSTING</title>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty>6</qty>
            <unit>ounces</unit></amt>
          <item>Semisweet chocolate chips</item></ing>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty>1/2</qty>
            <unit>cups</unit></amt>
          <item>Sweetened condensed milk</item></ing>
        <ing>
          <amt>
            <qty/>
            <unit/></amt>
          <item>Cherry juice (4 to 5 tsp)</item></ing></ing-div></ingredients>
    <directions>
      <step>  Preparation time: 45 minutes Baking time: 10 minutes
  
    1. In bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking
  soda. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and
  vanilla to butter-sugar mixture and beat well. Gradually add dry
  ingredients to butter-sugar mixture and beat until well blended.
  
    2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and
  push down center of each ball with thumb. Drain cherries and reserve juice.
  Place 1 cherry in center of each indentation. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
  
    3. For frosting, put chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in
  small saucepan. Heat until chocolate melts. Stir in 4 teaspoons cherry
  juice.  If too thick, add more juice.
  
    4. Spoon 1 teaspoon frosting over each cherry. Spread to cover cherry.
  Bake 10 minutes or until done. Do not overcook. Remove to wire rack and
  cool.  The cookies freeze nicely.
  
    Winner Donna M. Farrell of Naperville entered her chocolate covered
  cherry cookie recipe: "Christmas and chocolate-covered cherries are forever
  entwined in my mind and memories. Not the expensive department store kind,
  mind you, with their dark bitter chocolate and runny syrup, but your basic
  Brach's. Each Christmas found the coveted white box stretching my stocking,
  two layers of cream-filled heaven with a cherry floating therein--and no
  requirement to share them with anyone.
  
    "Taste and calories have kept me away from the box of delights for many
  years, even after the incredible discovery that Brach's actually sold these
  morsels all year long. (How my parents managed to deceive me on this, I'll
  never know.) That is, until my mother-in-law came to Chicago one autumn
  with the ultimate cookie. A Christmas tradition in one bite. Nostalgia from
  the oven. Capable of reducing this 36-year-old woman's taste buds and
  mentality to that of my 9-year-old daughter. A chocolate-covered cherry
  cookie!" from the Chicago Tribune annual Food Guide Holiday Cookie Contest
  December 4, 1986
  Posted to MM-Recipes Digest V3 #340
  
  From: Linda Place &lt;placel@worldnet.att.net&gt;
  
  Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 11:32:57 +0000
 
</step></directions></recipe></recipeml>
